Current Smoking, Occupation, N-Acetyltransferase-2 and Bladder Cancer
A Pooled Analysis of Genotype-based Studies
- Paolo Vineis,
- Daniela Marinelli,
- Herman Autrup,
- Jurgen Brockmoller,
- Ingolf Cascorbi,
- Ann K. Daly,
- Klaus Golka,
- Henry Okkels,
- Angela Risch,
- Nathalien Rothman,
- Edith Sim and
- Emanuela Taioli1
- CPO-Piemonte at the University of Torino, via Santena 7 and Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, I-10126 Torino, Italy [P. V.]; Ospedale Policlinico IRCCS and University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy [D. M., E. T.]; University of Aarhus, Arhus C, DK-8000 Denmark [H. A., H. O.]; University of Berlin, Berlin, D-10098 Germany [J. B.]; Ernst Moritz Arndt University, Greifswald, D-17487 Germany [I. C.]; University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE2 4HH United Kingdom [A. K. D.]; Institut fur Arbeitsphysiologie, Dortmund, D-44139 Germany [K. G.]; Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, D-69120 Germany [A. R.]; National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 [N. R.]; and University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QT United Kingdom [E. S.]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the association of NAT2 gene polymorphism with bladder cancer using the data derived from the International Project on Genetic Susceptibility to Environmental Carcinogens. Four case control studies conducted in four European countries, plus two case series, one from England and one from Germany, for a total of 1530 cases and 731 controls (all Caucasian) were included. The interaction between NAT2 and bladder cancer considering smoking habits and occupational exposure was studied. There was a significant association between NAT2 and bladder cancer (odds ratio: 1.42, 95% confidence interval: 1.14–1.77), with a slightly significant heterogeneity among studies. However, heterogeneity disappeared when smokers were divided into current and ex-smokers. The risk of cancer was elevated in smokers and occupationally exposed subjects, with the highest risk among slow acetylators. The increase in risk was limited, in fact, to current smokers (odds ratio = 1.74, 95% confidence interval: 0.96–3.15). This analysis confirms that the NAT2 genotype is a risk factor for bladder cancer by interacting with smoking or occupational exposures. Our observation suggests that NAT2 is not a risk factors per se but modulates the effect of carcinogens contained in tobacco smoke (probably arylamines) or associated with occupational exposures.
Footnotes
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
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↵1 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Ospedale Policlinico IRCCS and University of Milan, Milan, 20122 Italy.
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↵2 The abbreviations used are: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; GSEC, Genetic Susceptibility to Environmental Carcinogens.
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↵3 A. K. Daly, unpublished data.
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↵4 Gartes et al. Metabolic gene polymorphism frequencies in control populations, this issue.
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- Accepted October 14, 1901.
- Received October 5, 1901.
